


Nothing But Bad Dreams

by Cocobunny



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-10
Updated: 2012-04-10
Packaged: 2017-11-03 09:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocobunny/pseuds/Cocobunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Court of Owls AU. It all feels like a dream, this life of his. But the Court is his reality, and he is Talon, and the Batman must die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing But Bad Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this right after reading the Court of Owls arc, and let's just say I was an emotional mess during and after writing it, so concept might be a bit iffy. 
> 
> ((I guess you can say the universe got messed up and that's why nothing feels right to Dick in the story)).

Something tells him this isn’t right. Not the story that should be played out. In another life, he was different. Free. He had a choice, but it was taken. He had a life, but it was only a dream.

All of it an illusion.

The man in the mirror, clad in dark clothes, with eyes as wide as an owls, is a stranger. Nothing of Dick Grayson in his features. All hidden behind a black mask that saw nothing of the world but that of the court. Didn’t, and couldn’t see beyond the spiraling towers, the suffocating walls enclosed around him.

There was no life in this in the mirror. But a shell, emptied of all he could have been. All emotion ripped out, except one. Despair.

Constant throughout this life, his only solace in pain. The ache of it till his heart might give out, but not soon enough. Not soon enough to stop the killings. The new stabs into a wounded heart, beating still because it had no other choice. Death was not a choice, but a blessing. One that was not allowed to him.

He finally looked away from the mirror and moved out to meet the court. The sound of their deafening cries a fading background noise as he folded in on himself, and left Talon in his place.-

The Batman was challenging. A man brought close to the edge, just done right. This night proved that he was nothing more than just a mere man behind the mask. A man at his limits, with no power, no hope of escape.

Talon watched the man scurry around the Labyrinth like the rest of the court. But unlike the others, this brought no pleasure for him. But he did not look for Batman’s suffering, but only the court’s approval, and this, despite his done duty, did not slack his lust for something…more.

He distanced himself away from the crowd, edging up toward the most secluded place behind the labyrinth walls, and watched from afar.

He did not mean for his eyes to linger on the Batman, but it did. More and more, as he watched the man stagger around in the dark. His form a faint outline in the thickened shadows before the darkness shuddered in fear, the owls chasing away the bat’s home, washing him in white light; further driving the bat into insanity.

The Batman clawed his way around, as if blind. Blinded by fear, hopelessness, his sanity ebbing away with each pass of the light.

Talon would turn his head away.

The crowd’s eagerness did not slacken; but Batman was withering away.

Eight days had begun to pass, and Batman had gone ragged, his cape torn and shredded. His body wasting away with each tick of the clock.

Talon had grown weary of the games by day two, but by day eight, he felt as if he were the bat in the cage. Scurrying away from the light instead of basking in its cold glory. His heart ached for the Batman.

Pity was not something he was experienced with. No. There was little emotion involved at all. But his skin crawled, and his eyes stung in pain as the hour past, and already, he could see that Batman would not last much longer.

Batman’s hoarse laugh rung throughout the hall, deranged, and broken as he cried victoriously, “I beat you! YOU HEAR ME?! I BEAT YOU” before slipping through the hole. But there would be no end. Not that easy.

Talon sensed what the court wanted. This was the climax they’d all been waiting for. For the Bat’s destruction, and for them to get their greedy hands on him. To have a piece of him, but not before Talon softened him up a bit.

Talon bit hard on his lip, the sharp sting of pain a mild pleasure from the gray haze in his mind.

Yes, he could feel it. The tension mounting in the air, almost tangible as an electrical pulse, connecting their fast beat hearts, their savage, vicious desire for spilled blood.

The Batman regained consciousness, and then, this is where he makes his entrance.

Talon appeared behind the broken man, all but oblivious to the world, lost in his damaged mind, screaming out his last bit of resistance, with his dagger ready in hand.

But his limbs felt heavy, as if they were made of lead; hesitant even in the last few steps before the kill. Dick closed his eyes behind the mask, burying himself as he took that last step. Gripped Batman’s wrist tight, pressed his body close to his, and plunged the dagger in the older man’s belly.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Dick whispered, even as Batman choked a bloody gurgle. Dick held the older man’s body close to his, his apologies becoming a chant even as he let the man’s body slump to the ground.


End file.
